Friday, January 27, 2012

Earling Rejoins Community Transit Board

By Tom Pearce, Public Information Specialist

A longtime friend of Community Transit is rejoining the agency’s Board of Directors. Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling, who spent 12 years on the board during the 1990s and early 2000s, was chosen as one of the large city representatives in the biennial board selection process on Jan. 26.

Earlier this month, the Snohomish County Council reappointed Council members Dave Gossett and Dave Somers as its representatives. Lance Norton serves as the board’s labor representative, chosen by the agency's union leadership.

Gossett is the only current board member who served with Earling during his previous stint on the board. During Earling’s first tenure on the Community Transit Board, he served a term as board chair. He also was on the Sound Transit Board of Directors for several years, chairing that body as well.

Every two years, elected officials from the cities that make up Community Transit meet to elect board members from among their ranks. Based on the current composition scheme, the delegates divide up by city size and choose from among their peers. Edmonds, Lynnwood and Marysville are the large cities, with more than 30,000 residents. Arlington, Bothell, Lake Stevens, Mill Creek, Monroe, Mountlake Terrace and Mukilteo are the medium cities, with between 10,000 and 30,000 residents. Brier, Darrington, Gold Bar, Granite Falls, Index, Snohomish, Stanwood, Sultan and Woodway are the small cities, with fewer than 10,000 residents.

Large cities choose two board members, medium cities three and small cities two. The two County Council members and labor representative round out the board.

While Earling is the only new board member selected, three new board alternates were chosen. Arlington Council member Debora Nelson, Lake Stevens Council member Kim Daughtry and Lynnwood Council member Sid Roberts will serve as alternates, along with Snohomish Council member Tom Hamilton. County Council member Stephanie Wright is back as that body’s alternate.

Former Lynnwood Council member Ted Hikel left the Community Transit Board after a narrow defeat in November. He had served on the board from 2006-2008 and from 2010 until December, and was an alternate in between those terms. Alternates who left their roles include Chris Raezer from Arlington, Steve Bernheim from Edmonds and John Stima from Monroe.

Prior to the board selection, the delegates from the member cities discussed the composition of the board, which is reviewed every four years. If a majority approves, they could decide to apportion board members by geography, a different population scheme or alphabetic order. The group decided to keep the board make-up the same for the next four years, based on the 2011 city populations.

The new board will elect officers at its first meeting, on Thursday, Feb. 2.

6 comments:

There are three large cities, which get two board reps.There are seven medium cities, which get three reps.There are nine small cities, which get two reps.The two Snohomish county member represent all of unincorporated Snohomish County.

The theory was equitable population distribution.This formula has been around for several years and it used to be that there were only two large cities, Edmonds and Lynnwood. When Marysville annexed a few years ago it also became a large city but the service area reps decided to keep the same formula.Last week they again decided to keep the same formula for the next four years, despite the fact that Bothell and Lake Stevens could gain significant populations through annexation in the next couple years.It might be interesting to know that four years ago there was a proposal to go to a geographic representation model, two board members from each of four quadrants of the county, plus one county rep. It did not get enough votes. There was also at that time a proposal for three large city reps since there were now three large cities. That also failed.

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